April 30, 2008
Stanford women's lacrosse returned to the MPSF conference tournament Wednesday and blew out St. Mary's by the score of 19-4 to earn a berth into the semifinal round and a match against host California. The Cardinal raced out to a 14-2 halftime lead and never looked back in the runaway victory. The team was led by sophomore Dana Lindsay, who scored five goals in the contest all in the first half.
In a game that got away from the Gaels early, Stanford never let them get back in the game. The Cardinal held a 7-2 lead halfway through the first period and didn't allow a goal for nearly 41 minutes in the game after that point. Freshman accounted for eight of the nine goals that weren't scored by Lindsay with Leslie Foard scoring three times, Karen Nesbitt scoring twice and Sarah Flynn scoring twice. Redshirt freshman Charity also added a goal and sophomore Amanda Schwab put in the lone goal not scored by a freshman. Senior goalkeeper Laura Shane recorded six saves in the first half and wasn't often challenged as she faced just eight shots in the half.
Stanford inserted freshman goalkeeper Annie Read at halftime and she recorded three saves and allowed only two goals in the second half. Read also got action against St. Mary's in the meeting earlier this season at Cagan stadium. Freshman Maggie Sachs scored two goals in the second half and senior Katharine Fox scored her first career goal for the Cardinal at the 17:31 mark in the second half. Schwab added another goal in the half and freshman Ashely Aruffo got into the scoring mix with a goal of her own to finish off the 19-4 victory.
The win moves the Cardinal into a match against host California in one of the two MPSF semifinal matchups. The Golden Bears beat the Cardinal earlier this season at Memorial Stadium by the score of 11-9. The winner will face the winner of the Oregon/Denver matchup in the MPSF Championship, which will take place on Saturday, May 3 at 1:00 p.m. The loser will face off on Friday, May 2 in the third-place game also at 1:00 p.m.
The match against California is scheduled to begin Thursday, May 1 at 3:00 p.m.